Where We Stay
by HecateA
Summary: Slughorn thought he had taught long enough for students to stop surprising him, especially the quiet type like Andromeda Black. Oneshot.


**Author's Note: **This is vaguely based on another story I wrote called _Of Clockworks and Broken Gears, _though they aren't related so intrinsically that you'd need to read one. Think of these as the outtakes I had to cut because of word count limitations. Or of products of the fact that I just love this pairing too much. Anywho, enjoy!

**Disclaimer: **The following characters belong to J.K. Rowling, and this story derives from her original works, storylines, and world. Please do not sue me, I can barely pay tuition.

**Warnings: **NA

* * *

**Stacked with: **MC4A; Spring Bingo; By Any Other Name; Snicket Fence

**Individual Challenge(s): **Slytherin MC (x2); Hufflepuff MC; Bow Before the Blacks; Seeds; Short Jog; Summer Vacation

**Representation(s): **NA

**Bonus challenge(s): **Bee Haven; Chorus (Not a Lamp); Chorus (Persistence Still); Chorus (Ladylike); Found Family

**Tertiary bonus challenge(s):** NA

**Word Count:** 1159

_**Spring Bingo entry information:**_

**Space Address : **5D

**Prompt: **Ribbon / cord

* * *

**Where We Stay **

Slughorn had been teaching for long enough to know for a fact that two students should not be enjoying themselves so much while scraping burnt gillyweed from the inside of a cauldron—even two benevolent prefects who had volunteered for the task.

He was somewhat surprised when Ted Tonks quickly leaned over and pecked Andromeda Black on the cheek. She giggled and bumped her hip against him.

"Such bravado," she said, lightheartedly. "For someone who doesn't want to get caught…"

"Oh, I'll happily get caught up in you _anytime_," he replied.

"Stop saying pretty things or I'll have to kiss you again."

"Well then here, pass me that blue brush…"

Slughorn left the room before they realized he'd been there.

* * *

And to think he'd considered himself quite in tune with the gossip…

Andromeda Black and Lucius Malfoy got up from the weekly check-ins Slughorn had with his prefects.

"Miss Black," Slughorn said casually, as if he hadn't planned to do it for hours now. "If you wouldn't mind staying behind for a moment, I do think I have your potions essay graded… Mr Malfoy, you may go."

"Sir?"

"Now, now, Mr Malfoy. Miss Black can surely find her way back to the Common Rooms on her own," Slughorn said.

Andromeda nodded and he bowed his head to her before leaving.

"I hope there wasn't any problem with my assignment, sir," Andromeda said anxiously. She was so formal and polite, a perfect Black to be perfectly honest, with emerald green ribbons braided in her hair—as she did every time, they had House meetings, a Quidditch game… She was definitely the softest and the most personable of the Black sisters, but still. Part of him thought he must have imagined what he'd seen the other day.

"It was quite alright," Slughorn said, producing the essay and passing it to her. "I simply thought you would appreciate having it as a supplementary resource to study."

"Thank you, sir," Andromeda said, tucking the neatly rolled up parchment into her bag.

Slughorn sat back down behind his desk.

"Miss Black, do your parents know what you've been up to?" Slughorn asked.

Andromeda maintained her neutral expression, but her skin paled a few shades.

"Regarding potions, professor?" she asked.

"Regarding who you clean up with after potions, rather," he said.

She swallowed. Her eyes always seemed too large for her thin and pale face, but they were especially wide at the moment.

"I do not make it my business to interfere in family politics," Slughorn said. "But I personally know both of your parents. Be careful, Miss Black. For more than just your sake."

"I am always careful, professor," she said in a measured voice that seemed to prove her point.

"I hope so, Miss Black," he said. "I do not think I have to tell you what…"

"No," Andromeda said. "With all due respect sir, you do not."

"I suppose that is for the best. In that case, I will you in class tomorrow. Goodnight."

"Goodnight," she said, turning around and going towards the door. She froze when she got close, and turned around. "Professor?"

"Yes, Miss Black?"

"How do you bear it?" she asked. "How do you… how do you bear the things our House allows to exist, when they become so dangerous? So… cruel?"

Slughorn paused for a minute. He'd never faced the question with such candor, though he knew that his colleagues thought of this frequently.

"A House is like a family, Miss Black," Slughorn said. "I believe Professor McGonagall says so to every cohort of first-years, surely you've heard it."

She nodded.

"We find ourselves in various families, Miss Black, but we can choose the ones we stay with," Slughorn said. "That is why I insist on hosting those dinner parties, for example—the Slug Club, I think students have taken to calling it. It brings together brilliant minds who otherwise would not cross paths, forces people to look at each other and their strengths."

She remained neutral; unmoving. But Slughorn knew that her being there before him was enough.

"I believe that Slytherin House is great," Slughorn said. "But not for the reasons some of its members believe. For other reasons we may choose."

Andromeda nodded.

"Goodnight, sir."

"Goodnight, Andromeda."

* * *

The last day of class was always the most difficult for Horace, given that every year a new cohort of students he'd watched over for seven years left. Many of them would keep in touch, many would not. All he could hope for was that he had done his best by them and wait until all students had left the castle to open a bottle of wine with the others heads of houses, as per tradition.

Horace was on his way to breakfast, when he heard a student call for him.

It was Andromeda Black running in the halls, quite unlike her, and pulling Ted Tonks by the hand which… wasn't _unlike _her, as far as Horace knew, but was quite candid. As a matter of fact, Andromeda had been so discreet that he had had no other reasons to believe that she and Mr Tonks had continued seeing each other.

"Miss Black," he said.

Andromeda stopped before him. Her hair was in one of its usual styles—a tight braid outlined her face, woven through with a green ribbon, and the rest of her perfectly brushed curls toppled down her back.

"You're my Head of House, which means that you'll call my name at the graduation ceremony—before all the seventh years get back in the boats to cross the lake and go back to the train, right professor?"

"Yes, that's quite right," Slughorn said.

"Right," Andromeda said. She looked to Ted. He squeezed her hand.

"It's up to you," he said earnestly. "You know I love you anyways."

Horace's head was spinning.

Andromeda looked up at him.

"We got married," she said.

"In secret."

"In Hogsmeade."

"_Pardon?" _he blurted.

Andromeda looked to Ted and smiled, before turning back to him.

"My parents were arranging a marriage for me," she said. "I'm of age, that's… that's how purebloods do it, but I… I had made a different choice. Because we can choose the families we stay with."

She turned to Ted and smiled. He smiled back and brought her hands to his lips for a kiss.

"Please," Andromeda said. "Please read out my name when I graduate as Andromeda Tonks. I've sent word to my family; I'll speak to my sister to… to try and explain. This is me making that choice you told me about."

Horace nodded his head.

"Of course, Mrs. Tonks."

The two students in front of him smiled to each other giddily, and Andromeda let go of Ted's hand to wrap her arms around Horace. He was quite shocked by it, but Andromeda took the opportunity to whisper a quick '_thank you.' _

"You are more than welcome," he whispered back.


End file.
